


Storytelling

by koalathebear



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Angst, F/M, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-01
Updated: 2012-01-01
Packaged: 2017-10-28 15:56:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/309543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koalathebear/pseuds/koalathebear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by a fic called <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/1713167">Unwritten</a> by <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/users/river_soul/pseuds/river_soul">river_soul</a> which was an Elizabeth, Ronon, Lorne/Novak story. I adore it and it keeps burning a hole in my brain. Her summary for the story was: "Elizabeth is injured on an off world mission and Lorne sees something he shouldn't".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Storytelling

"Don't move," Ronon said firmly. He had seen a flicker of movement through the curtains in the Infirmary. He knew that it was Lorne and suspected that the marine had probably seen and heard everything that had taken place. He looked down at Elizabeth's pale face and found that he didn't care. Nothing mattered except the fact that the woman before him has survived.

Elizabeth smiled very weakly but managed to say with faint reproof in her voice. "You're not the doctor".

"Next time you even think about going off world again, I'm going to lock you in your quarters - leader or not," Ronon said grimly. "From what I can see, Sheppard feels the same way".

Elizabeth lying on the ground, clutching at her abdomen and then gripping the fabric of Ronon's trousers in a convulsive hold before passing out was the stuff of which nightmares were made. Ronon knew that it was going to be a very long time before he would be able to forget how she had looked, forget how it had felt to have her seize him in that death-like grip. The sound that had escaped her lips before she had fainted had been chilling. Although Ronon had wanted to reach down and lift Elizabeth into his arms, the Genii traitor had been poised to strike again and attempt to finish the task that he had failed the first time.

Sheppard had picked up Elizabeth and it had fallen to Ronon to be the dispenser of vengeance. If he could have killed the traitor twice, he would have done so without hesitation. As it was, his blade had been true and the first stroke had not faltered.

Everyone in both teams had been injured to varying degrees on that ill-fated offworld mission. Sheppard, Lorne, McKay, Teyla, Novak and Cadman. Ronon had shrugged off his wound but the bloody bandage on his forearm was a reminder that he also had not escaped unscathed. Nonetheless, it had been Weir who had been the most grievously injured of them all.

"Ronon - you also need to need rest. You should go," she whispered. "I'll be fine".

"I'm not leaving you. You know that." he said grimly and his voice was implacable. He wasn't arguing with her about this.

Elizabeth's pain-clouded eyes were filled with understanding. When she had finally regained consciousness in the darkness of the Infirmary, a brief moment of uncontrollable panic had gripped her and she had gasped for breath until she had seen the tall, shadowy figure standing beside her bed watching over her silently. His lean, muscled body had been taut with tension, his face implacable but as soon as Elizabeth had realised who stood watch over her, the fear had immediately drained from her and she had been able to breathe again.

"The others?" she had asked him.

"Fine". he had told her briefly and watched as she slumped back against the pillows in relief.

Ronon stared at her now in the silence. He remembered every word of their conversation in the darkness of the infirmary and the warmth that had started to thaw his coldness when she had told him that she was safe because of him. It had given him the reckless courage to finally touch her after all this time. No more than a whisper of a caress but they had both felt it and been immeasurably comforted by the physical contact, tiny though it might be.

At his words, Elizabeth gave a very wry smile as she thought of all the times they had been in mortal danger within the city itself.

Ronon had imprinted all of her smiles to memory and he treasured each one of them. Although his days as a Runner were over, in his darker hours, part of him could not really believe that they were really behind him. If one day he was forced to run again, he knew that when he closed his eyes and confronted the lonely darkness he would see Elizabeth's smile. When he looked into the vast emptiness of the heavens and contemplated the stars, it was thoughts of Elizabeth that kept him grounded.

It had been Sheppard who had extended the hand of trust and friendship to Ronon. It had been Teyla who had made him feel as though he could belong and it was Elizabeth Weir who made him realise why he chose to stay.

He had been angered by her decision to join the mission. "There is no such thing as a peace mission where the Genii are concerned. They do not know the meaning of the word - we already know this from their past acts".

"I'm not really safe here in Atlantis either, you know," Elizabeth whispered, even the effort of speaking hurting her.

"I know," Ronon said coldly, his jaw tight and furious. "But you are safer here than out there. I failed you twice. Once by allowing you to go and the second time by allowing you to be wounded".

"Ronon, stop it. You did your best. I'm very grateful for you not saying 'I told you so'..." she said softly.

"When you're recovered, I promise that there will be a reckoning between you and I," he told her grimly.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes in laughing disbelief and Ronon stared at her, his eyes very dark and shuttered.

"This isn't a laughing matter. Having you bleeding at my feet was ....." Ronon found that he didn't know what to say. He wanted to tell her that it had made him feel a fear that he had never felt before, even through all his years of running from the Wraith. The person bleeding to death at his feet was not only his leader, she was also a woman for whom he had developed feelings that he no longer tried to question.

"Is anyone else awake right now?"

"Major Lorne is keeping watch over Dr Novak. Everyone else seems to be asleep," he told her.

"So it's just you and I," Elizabeth said. "That feels strangely right, doesn't it?" she asked him unexpectedly and he inclined his head slowly to acknowledge the truth of her words.

A fierce stab of pain tore sharply through Elizabeth and she brought a hand to her mouth to try to muffle the sound so as not to disturb the others and Ronon stared at her with a look resembling panic in his eyes. He turned as if to awaken Beckett but Elizabeth gripped his shirt, pulling him closer.

"No .... don't ...." she whispered. Ronon wiped down the perspiration from her brow, horrified by how pale and weak she looked. He hated to see her this helpless and vulnerable.

"Don't look like that. I'm going to be fine," she told him. "Thanks to you," and her smile was brilliant. He said nothing, merely stood by the bed, worry in his eyes.

"Ronon you haven't slept in 36 hours. You're tired ... if you won't sleep, at least lie down here for a moment.... there's room .... you can rest," she told him

"I might hurt you," he said, shaking his head.

She closed her eyes and said nothing and Ronon exhaled slowly and cautiously eased himself up onto the bed stretching himself out beside her. He put his arms about her shoulders, holding her close and she smiled, resting against him and breathing deeply of his familiar scent, craving the warmth of his body.

"Are you sure this isn't hurting you?" he asked her with a trace of concern in his deep voice.

"No, it's good," she whispered. "To be honest, for a moment there I thought I was done for ...."

"Don't talk like that ..."

She grimaced. "This is a bit pathetic. So much for being leader of the expedition".

He brushed his lips across her cheek. "There is only me here - you don't have to worry," he told her and she believed him. For a few moments anyway, she wasn't the leader of the expedition and the cares of the world were temporarily lifted from her.

She smiled and then opened her eyes and looked up into his eyes. "Maybe I can milk this. Will you tell me a fairy tale?"

He looked at her in confusion. "What?"

"A fairy tale .. a children's story .... surely the Satedans have stories they tell their children ..."

"Ours is a warrior society," Ronon said soberly. "Our stories are of battles and death, even the children's stories". Elizabeth considered this for a long moment and Ronon reached down to brush her hair from her face gently.

"I'll tell you a fairy story then," Elizabeth suggested and Ronon shook his head.

"No. You are injured and should rest". He thought for a moment and Elizabeth smiled.

"Our fairy tales begin with 'once upon a time'," she prompted him.

Ronon allowed his lips to brush across her brow. He would never have imagined that he would allow himself to display such weakness for a woman and Elizabeth could never have imagined that Ronon Dex capable of such gentle tenderness but as they lay in the darkness in the infirmary, it was as if they were the only two people in the universe who existed.

"Once upon a time .... in an ancient city that rose from the ocean .... there was ...." he paused and thought for a moment. "A beautiful and courageous ..... queen...." Elizabeth lifted her eyebrows.

Ronon continued. "The welfare and safety of her people lay in her hands ..." he picked up her slim hand and brought it to his cheek, turning his head to kiss it lightly. He closed his eyes as her hands caressed his face, her fingers tracing the line of his mouth. "Although the dangers she faced were terrifying, she never faltered ..... "

Elizabeth's eyes urged him to continue.

"In the city there lived a humble soldier.... although he knew that he was not worthy of and would never be worthy of the love of the queen ..." Elizabeth tried to protest his words but he placed a fingertip to her lips. "...he burned for her .... "

Ronon thought for a moment. "And?" Elizabeth asked him questioningly.

"To the humble soldier, the queen was as far out of his reach as one of the stars that blazed coldly in the night sky above the city, and yet he was unable to help himself. He ached ....and sometimes .. "

"She used to eat lunch with him and he would steal her bread," Elizabeth interrupted him. Ronon smiled despite himself. "If the block-headed warrior had possessed the slightest bit of sense, he would have realised that this meant that she liked him, too".

"Oh for crying out _loud_. Could this get any _more_ nauseating? Do the two of you _mind_? Some of us are grievously injured and trying to get some sleep here!" McKay's voice was very aggrieved. "And Ronon, don't take this the wrong way but stick to being a warrior. Your story-telling skills are bad. _Very_ bad. Hasn't anyone ever told you that it's the height of solipsism to put yourself into your own story".

"Shut up Rodney!" a chorus of voices chimed up around the infirmary.

"Ronon, you forgot to mention the evil, bad-tempered, fire-breathing dragon named Rodney," Sheppard interrupted.

"Was there anyone who _wasn't_ eavesdropping?" Elizabeth demanded in profound embarrassment and there was a very telling silence that greeted her question.

"Well _I_ thought the story was beautiful," they heard Novak say even though Lorne was heard trying to gently shush her. She ignored him. "How does the story end, Ronon?"

Ronon stared down at Elizabeth who was staring up at him with an unreadable expression in his eyes. "That depends on a lot of things," he said slowly, his eyes faintly questioning.

"You're supposed to say, and they lived happily ever after," Cadman chimed in irrepressibly.

"Oh and the clichés continue to fly," Rodney complained and everyone shushed him again. "Excuse me but being injured isn't an excuse for lapsing into maudlin triteness," Rodney protested. The voices protested in the darkness and Rodney gave up.

" _Fine_ , at least let the smart one finish the story". He paused for a moment. "The tall somewhat surly and laconic warrior grunted in his primal way, clubbed the queen on the head and took her away to live on a cave, omitting to tell her that in accordance with Satedan society she was expected to wait on him hand and foot and admire him while he flexed his muscles by moonlight for her benefit".

" _Rodney!_ " The multiple voices were full of protest.

"Have it your way," Rodney said crossly. "One day, the queen and some of her people travelled through a gateway into another world where they encountered great danger and the queen was grievously injured. The warrior, who was fiercely loyal to his queen was enraged by what had taken place and fought fiercely and bravely, prepared to sacrifice his own life in defence of his queen. As a result of the courage of the warrior, the lives of the queen and her people were spared ..... "

" _And_?" Cadman demanded impatiently.

"They returned to the City That Was Once Beneath the Sea and ..... lived happily ever after," Rodney said grudgingly.

"That wasn't bad, Rodney...." Cadman said with unflattering disbelief in her voice.

Ronon was smiling down at Elizabeth and she was smiling back at him. He lowered his head towards hers slowly and unhurriedly.

"What? Because I'm a scientist I can't be creative?" Rodney demanded irritably. "Look at Bach, the fact that he could create sublime music didn't mean he wasn't something of a brilliant mathematician. There's nothing that says I can't be good at everything!" Rodney was protesting. He staggered out of bed and walked over to Elizabeth's bed to see how she and Ronon had liked the story. He drew the curtain back, stared for a moment, for once somewhat at a loss for words. He cleared his throat and pulled the curtain back in place.

"Oh," he said and hurried back to his bed. "Good night everyone!" he called out and subsided into silence.

If anyone heard the soft, low rumble of Ronon's laughter as he covered Elizabeth's mouth with his own, they all pretended to hear nothing.

  
**The End**   



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